And the winner is . . . not Boaty McBoatface

RSS Sir David Attenborough

A new cutting-edge polar research ship is being built in the UK, and the public was asked to vote for a name (#NameOurShip).

Overwhelmingly, people voted for Boaty McBoatface but officials instead chose RRS Sir David Attenborough, which received far fewer votes but had strong backing from many. Yes, this is a dignified choice and quite appropriate.

Boaty McBoatface the sub

But Boaty will live on, as the name of a remotely operated yellow submarine carried aboard the new polar ship. Cheeky tweets about #BoatyMcBoatface suggested that the sub might be called Subby McSubface.

To see more about this unexpected ending to a highly public social media contest, just search for 'Boaty' on the Web or in Twitter.

The Science and Technology Committee will look into the contest results next week. The marketing lesson: Crowdsourcing doesn't always work the way you think. I still believe Boaty McBoatface should be licensed for children's toys, but Subby McSubface would work almost as well.